February Take 12 - The Layout

I am having such fun with this project.

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I made a 2-pager, y'all! this is big news. I was inspired by a sketch that came in the Ella Publishing Co. Take 12 kit. The original sketch was very linear and featured a grid, which are elements that I liked & kept. But the photos in the sketch were placed in two horizontal rows, along the bottom and middle of both pages with the journaling fit in between. As you can see, I used the photos in three vertical columns and moved the journaling to the right side. The title was placed in the right upper corner in the sketch. I kept it that way but mirrored the elements in the lower left corner to balance out the page. I used simple embellishments - two kinds of washi tape, a word strip, painted chicken wire pattern for some texture & interest and an Elle's Studio calendar circle. I plan on using these calendar spots and kraft cardstock every month as a way to unify my pages.

Well, kids, I am off to catch up on a couple of the many shows I have backed up on my DVR. I need to photograph this year's Valentine mini so that I can share that project this weekend. Have a lovely night!

Take 12 - February Photos

It's time again for Take 12, a monthly photography challenge hosted by Ella Publishing Co., where participants take 12 photos of the 12th of each month to scrap and share. For 2012, I am two for two on this project and feeling pretty darn good about it.

As February 12th fell on a Sunday this year, my day was a mix of puttering around the house and helping out with a fundraiser to benefit a family friend. It was a lovely mix of everyday and special occasion, home and friends, introverted and extroverted, me and others.

Like I said, it was a lovely day.

As I did last month, I will be sharing the words + photos today. Once completed, I will also share a finished layout featuring my Take 12 photos. I am working from a sketch that was included in EPC's Take 12 Kit. My mind is percolating with ideas on how to best document these memories.

I woke up at a leisurely hour on Sunday 2/12. What a lovely feeling. Threw on a sweatshirt and headed into my craft room.

Worked for 2.5 glorious hours on a Valentine's Day mini as a gift for my husband. I am loving how it is turning out. It's almost complete. The photos are printed, the embellishments are collected - I just need to adhere everything into the book. Stay tuned for a dedicated post (with photos!) on this mini later in the week.

Loved seeing this guy as I was leaving the house. I enjoy seeing the little signs of winter around the neighborhood.

I spent most of the afternoon and early evening working a fundraiser to benefit our friend, Casey, who is battling pancreatic cancer. I am in charge of a multi-week raffle so I sold raffle tickets and t-shirts for a few hours. One of the neighborhood's favorite hangouts, The Dundee Dell, hosted the event. Casey has worked there for over a decade. The owners of the Dell donated 25% of the day's total to benefit Casey and his family so Jim & I had dinner there with friends. We had an amazing turnout. I was even interviewed by a local news crew to promote the events.

Jim & Bowers in "Go Big For Casey" t-shirts

Deana & I

Princess Izzy sporting Mardi Gras beads/mask

Kozy & I at dinner

I am the raffle queen

Mr. Sam "borrowed" my iPhone and took a series of self-portraits. Too cool.

Home again, after a long day, I notice a spectacular view from my bedroom window.

I threw on my warmest jammies (with matching slippers!).

And settled in to watch the Grammys.

Good day. And good night...

OLW Blog Hop - My Dreams in Pictures

Welcome back for this month's One Little Word blog hop! I am so glad that I am working a little bit every month on my word for 2011 - DREAM. Participating in these monthly blog hops help keep me motivated and excited to share my experiences. You can check out my previous posts about documenting my OLW here.

I am really loving how Ali has structured this class. There is great balance so far. Balance between words and photos. Balance between thought and action. Balance between creativity and organization. Balance between dreams for myself and dreams for my family.

I am always struggling to find this kind of balance.

So it was really refreshing to see this month's prompt dealt with list making, tasks and to-dos that related to our word. And Ali even created a really special spreadsheet to organize our goals. I didn't get a chance to photograph my own completed spreadsheet, but here is a photo of Ali's example.

One of my self-appointed task items was to create a layout that documented the words that went along with this photo collage. I knew that I wanted to record those words but I didn't want to add the words directly onto the photos in my album. I just loved how the images stood alone, how they progressed and complemented one another. I was afraid adding the words into the collage would distract from the impact of the images themselves. I can happily report that not only did I complete this layout but also I took a photo. Aren't you so proud?

I used my old manual typewriter to journal the dream statements. I love adding typed journaling to my projects. It just adds a bit of grunge and a dash of sentimentality that can be a great contrast to the more artsy, creative photos. Because this layout faces the divided page protector holding the full-sized, unadorned photos I knew I wanted to keep the photos on the layout small. I chose to center words + photos and surround them with plenty of white space. I added some stitching, some splatters and my title. I totally love it.

I also did some work on my album cover this month. I am using the Pink Paislee canvas album from the Parisian Anthology collection. I added some dangling crystals, a metal heart and key, ribbons and string. I love the girly effect. I have this great Jenni Bowlin yellow butterfly rub-on that I've been hoarding in my stash for months. I am going to add that to the front of the album along with the One Little Word title...but I haven't worked out exactly how yet. But come on back next month and see what I come up with!

Next up on the blog hop is Junelle at Yes and Amen blog. Have fun and see you soon!

I Call It "Royal Wedding Fever"

You might have noticed that I missed last Friday's segment of Photo Love. Well, it is because I came down with Royal Wedding Fever.

And it is very contagious. Just look at these two...

Deana and I totally went crazy for the wedding of Prince William to Kate Middleton (for you morons out there who weren't sure what royal wedding I was referring to). Deana dug out her wedding tiara - and the silver, china and crystal stemware in case you were wondering about our level of commitment - while I made myself a veil to wear with my own (plastic) tiara.

Really, how cute are we?

So, Deana took Friday 4/29/2011 aka Wedding Day off of work while I already had the day off. We planned to nap in the evening and then meet at her house around 2:30am to begin the festivities. The actual wedding ceremony was slated to begin at 5:00am in our time zone. But...neither one of us could sleep. Truly, we were 'too excited' thinking about the wedding. I gave up the pretense of sleeping about midnight and just headed over to Deana's house.

We drank mimosas while watching the pre-wedding tv coverage. We ate scones with homemade clotted cream (a super yummy treat). We snarked on people's attire and speculated about the dress. We ooh'ed and aah'ed at the pomp and grandness of it all. We got nostalgic, thinking back on Princess Di's wedding to Prince Charles (Deana made a scrapbook of said event which proved quite sentimental). We remembered our own weddings with smiles and (maybe) some tears of joy.

So by the time the actual wedding began, we were both fighting to stay awake - just like this little Princess.

 We made it through the vows and some singing. And then I had to go home because I am old and can no longer celebrate through the night. I knew I had to make it into my bed or I was going to be sleeping in Deana's arm chair. So I fell asleep at home, cozy and comfy in my own bed, amid the sounds of cheering. With the image of the wedding kiss as my last concrete memory.

Cover Me

Just a quick post tonight to share an album cover that I recently created. A friend of mine is getting married and last weekend was her bridal shower. I knew that I wanted to make something for her gift. After hemming and hawing about what I was going to do, I finally decided to make her a memory book of the actual bridal shower.

I have had a Prima Canvas album in my stash for almost a year. It is a super cool album - both the cover and 5 insert pages are made of thick canvas fabric. It also comes with 5 plastic page protectors. The canvas comes undecorated- so I'll admit that I was a little bit intimidated to work on such blank space. Here's a photo of the album without any alteration.

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See what I mean? Intimidating...

To begin the album, I used her wedding colors of pink and green  to build a background. Then I added layers of paint, dictionary page, paper flowers, chipboard butterflies, metal flower brads, stickers and fabric brads to further customize. I made similar collages on the inside canvas pages, building around a central focal photograph from the couple's engagement photos. I used the page protectors to hold basic 8x8 background cardstock, again using the wedding colors. I printed out decorative journaling cards personalized with the bride's name. As each guest arrived at the shower, she was given a card and asked to write down her best marital advice for the couple. I used my Fuji Instax instant camera to snap a photo. While the other guests played typical shower games, I adhered each advice cards next to a photo of the author on the cardstock. I was able to perfectly fit 2 cards/photos per page. At the conclusion of the shower, the bride was took home a fully completed memory book.

It was a huge hit. 

I wish you could see it. I really do. However, I stupidly accidentally forgot to take any photos of the interior pages. But I did a couple of shots of the cover. This is how the finished album appeared:

Here's a close-up of the collage:

Lastly, here's what the journaling cards looked like:

 I really love making personalized gifts like this. What are some of your favorite crafty projects?

Feeling the Love

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I'm definitely seeing this concept in action in our lives right now. What a huge blessing...

PS I saw this amazing project on Beth Shaleben's blog. You should check it out.

Scrabble Nameplate Project

I came up with a really cute and easy project this past weekend. I thought I'd share it here, along with a little how-to.

Let's start with a picture of the finished project:

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I so adore this project, particularly because of the  simplicity factor. So let's move right into the how-to, shall we?

I started by using aqua acrylic paint to cover the entire tile holder. I used two coats because I wanted it to be extra aqua-y, but it has a kind of cool, color wash effect with only coat so it's up to you!

Let the paint dry completely.

Decorate the back first. I used patterned paper and the Martha Stewart Crafts Butterfly Border Punch (I got mine here) to make a border for the back side. I adhered the butterflies with Modge Podge. Use a thin layer of Modge Podge on the back side of your paper and place the border onto the holder. Then use a second thin layer of Modge Podge over the top of the paper to adhere securely. Let this dry completely. Lastly, spray the entire surface of the tile holder with acrylic sealant. I used the glossy type which I bought at Hobby Lobby. Here is what the back side of my nameplate looks like:

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Now we can move on to the fun stuff - embellishing the front. I used a cluster of fabric flowers and a Jenni Bowlin chipboard butterfly to decorate mine. I used a plain old hot glue gun to adhere the elements. I placed several layers of foam square adhesives (like these) to fill in the space between the butterfly and the tile holder and added a dollop of hot glue for good measure. Lastly I used the hot glue gun to adhere the Scrabble tiles spelling my name. A closeup of the finished product looks like this:

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As an alternative, you could leave the Scrabble tiles free and clear of all adhesive so you could change out the letters. Just think of all the possibilities...

I hope you enjoyed this little project. If you make one yourself, please link it up in the comments. I'd love to see your work!